Harmony prenatal test - anyone know about it

today I am having a new kind of prenatal test called Harmony. It's non-invasive and seems to just be a new kind of blood test plus the regular nuchal scan but it's much more accurate than the traditional nuchal blood test. Apparently it's nearly as accurate as a CVS but without any risk.

I'm the only person I know who is having this test and nobody else seems to have heard of it let alone have been offered it. I just wondered if others have and knowledge of it and how accurate it is.

Great idea to put a thread in pregnancy, if it wasn't for mumsnet I wouldn't have known about the FMC in my previous pregnancy and subsequently the Harmony test. It really is amazing how science is advancing and the more people who know there are alternatives to CVS/Amnio in certain circumstances the better.

I had the blood taken for Harmony on Tuesday, so possibly another 11 days, however the doctor I spoke to said they have been coming back on average after 11 days so I'm hoping I'll get them slightly earlier. It's a horrible wait, but with great results like yours I wouldn't be too concerned.

Hi all I just wanted to say thanks who have kindly posted posts on here about the harmony test. I went for mine on Thursday after reading positive comments about the Fmc in London. My story basically is that I am 40 years young, first pregnancy, and ds has always been on my mind not only due to age, but because my dh niece has ds. I went for a nuchal scan on the nhs on 22/02/2013 and was to my surprise told that they were unable to do this has I was further on than what I and everybody thought 14w+3d. I was shocked as I knew my dates were 100%. So a basic scan was conducted with no abnormalities detected. It took around 10 minutes.

I was disappointed as i so wanted the nuchal so decided to take the plunge travel 250miles down to London and pay £550 for harmony test plus train fare. Unfortunately my outcome was not as pleasant as others on here.After an anomaly scan lasting at least 45 minutes, we were told the bad news, our advice was not to do harmony but to come back on Wednesday and get a cvs. This was such a shock, they told me that according to their measurements I would be 14w+1day on that day, which made more sense as this ties in with my dates. Also my nuchal fold measurement was 4.9 mm, the fumer is in range but at the bottom of the scale. We were told chromosome abnormality or heart defect that can't be picked up yet.As we were not local to London we did not know what to do, we were confused, so we decided to still go ahead with the harmony and take it from there.On the positive I thought the scan was excellent and thorough well worth the money, I would definitely recommend going private as opposed nhs for important scans. However the negative about this experience was the lack of support after being told this.I am a very emotional person and took this hard and was very upset, we felt under pressure to make a decision very quickly. Albeit we did.We sat waiting for the lab girl to take my blood, and I was fighting back the tears, I just felt things could of been explained more or had someone on hand to deal with situations like this. I thought it was clinical.

Now the wait... I knew I was classed as high risk, but I never once was negative about it, now that happy go lucky attitude has disappeared.

Maybe I was just unlucky but I just wanted and to be honest I "needed" to tell my experience . However it's comforting to read everyone's good news from all your results.I hope I can be one of those too.

Oh bless you lilbob that sounds a really difficult experience. The clinic is so excellent in so many ways but its a shame they didn't have anyone there with expertise to support you after such troubling news. So sorry to hear that.

I really hope you get good results too. Fingers crossed for you And this thread can be a safe place to come and vent and get some support.

How much longer do you have to wait until your Harmony results come through? 11 days for me. Waiting is so hard isn't it? As much distraction as possible is the best way but sometimes it's tough to keep your mind from obsessing!

The long 2 week wait seemed to be passing quickly until today (I had the blood taken a week ago today) but for some reason it is all I can think about now!

From reading through this thread quite a few people seemed to get their results at 10 days, this would be Friday for me, it would be lovely to have the results before the weekend.

I am however still very much in two minds about what I will do if the results come back positive for DS, our first baby had DS (confirmed via CVS at 13 weeks) and we decided to continue with the pregnancy but sadly lost him at 20 weeks pregnant, most likely due to significant heart problems. Now we have DD (12 months old) I feel an awful lot of responsibility towards her current and future lifestyle and how that could potentially be more difficult with a sibling with DS.

DH I think would prefer to terminate as he is terrified of another later loss. I can't imagine being pregnant again as I have awful Hyperemisis and spend a lot of time hooked up to a drip in hospital and I am not sure I could put myself, DH and DD through this again.

Sorry - that was a bit of a brain dump!

Lilbob I am sorry you didn't have a positive experience, based on my first pregnancy I think that no matter what care you get it feels awful when you are faced with potentially bad news. Good luck with the results.

Hi there! Thanks to everyone who has added to this thread and has shared their experiences both positive and negative, really helpful. I went today for the Harmony blood test at FMC... Thankfully I only work round the corner so not far to travel. I'd already been there for a viability scan at 8 weeks, which I found very reassuring. Today I had another scan to check baby was alive and all ok, which thankfully it was, and they took the blood - I've another appointment in just over two weeks to get the results and have the NT scan. Generally I found the staff there very professional and efficient, and personally I'm very glad I found FMC as I've found it reassuring. However, I'm very grateful to those of you who had negative experiences for sharing as it certainly helps be a bit better prepared just in case... Fingers crossed for results, will let you all know! X

The results are in....I am delighted to report that the results came back with a less than 1 in 10,000 chance of the baby having any of the three main Trisomies. I can finally start to enjoy being pregnant!

Facts and figures for those of you who want them (I know I was hungry for this data when I was waiting for the results!)

My initial FMC results came back as 1 in 68 (largely because I have had a previous DS pregnancy, low PaPP A and a un-calcified nasal bone).

Interestingly my NHS results (performed the day after the FMC results) came back with a 1 in 550 result. I talked to my consultant about this and she explained that the FMC ones were lower due to the lack of nasal bone being taken into consideration. It is also worth noting that my NHS bloods were vastly different to the FMC ones, there was a two week period between the two samples being taken but given they are both expressed in MoM I have no idea why - the relationship between HCG and PaPP A was however similar in both.

I had my Harmony test bloods taken on 26th February 2013, the results came back today (8 days after the blood was taken - much quicker than expected). I found the FMC staff to be professional and incredibly helpful and compassionate. I wouldn't hesitate to recommend them to anyone based on my experience.

Good luck to those who are still waiting for their results, if anyone has any questions about my experience I am more than happy to share any other details.

Can I join you? I have been hanging round this thread since I found out my NHS combined nuchal results. Thank you so much for everyone sharing your stories as without your posts I would probably never have gone for the Harmony test. As it is I had it 9 days ago in Manchester (www.thisismy.co.uk - think they also have clinics in Leeds, Sheffield and Hull).

I am totally stressed, the wait is torture, I can't tell whether the morning sickness is getting worse or I am just retching because of the nerves! I have yet to have a problem free pregnancy - twin loss at 21 weeks due to pre term labour, perfect DD born prem due to PROM, MMC at 11 weeks, 2 chemicals - lots of tests no reasons found. When I got these results I just couldn't believe I had something else to add to the list of pregnancy stresses, I really just wanted this time to be a positive experience.

The private scan was really good and said they could see nasal bone etc but I am struggling to stay positive with those blood results.I am clutching at straws and hoping that the result has maybe been affected by the fact that I am taking progesterone (cyclogest), also the NHS scan put me 3 days ahead and they used those dates, I definitely know my dates, although I'm not sure 3 days will make much difference to that HCG level.

The clinic have only just started doing the test so they couldn't be very specific about when the results would be back, one person said 10-14 days the other said 10-14 working days! I'm jumping out of my skin everytime the phone rings.

Waiting is a nightmare isn't it! My results came back (all good!) today and that was an 11 day wait (including weekends). Although hang on, you went to a different clinic <duh> But the wait seemed pretty interminable......distraction is key.

I think hormone levels can fluctuate - my Papp-a was 0.6 according to the NHS, but bang on 1 at the FMC!

Good luck. And a friend of mine had odds of 1:25 for DS. She had an amnio - no abnormalities at all (and now a ridiculously gorgeous, nearly one year old girl!).

I'm hoping my clinic will be about the same as FMC with regards to wait time as I figure the lab in America must process them all the same surely? I know that there will be at least a day extra as my blood had to go to a lab in London first before boarding the plane. I just wish the bloods had a tracking number that I could follow online!

The clinic told me that I would have the results by next Monday, that is the day before my daughter's birthday, just praying for good news.